Colombian rebel groups urged to release kidnapped

On the second anniversary of the
abduction of a former state governor in Colombia, United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urgently appealed
to rebel groups to release all those kidnapped and end the
"inhumane practice."

Armed individuals who identified
themselves as belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) seized Alan Jara, former Governor of the
Department of Meta, while he was riding in an official UN
vehicle with the world body's Resident Coordinator, in
connection with an important local development project.

"The FARC is responsible for Mr. Jara's physical
well-being and should provide proof that he is alive to his
family, which has wrongly suffered his forced absence," said
a statement released by Mr. Annan's spokesman in New York.

The Secretary-General urgently appeals to the FARC and
others to release all those kidnapped and to stop this
inhuman practice, it continued.

"It is a gross violation
of human rights and international humanitarian law that has
inflicted terrible suffering on the Colombian people," the
statement said.

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